Does Anyone kow "Up Against the Wall MortherFuckers"?

Oh, little Bear, don't know if I was hipper or not - never thought about that. I was an anti-war activitist mainly. Come visit TN! It's beautiful here, leaves are just starting to turn. If we finally get some rain, I can go flyfishing! But it needs to rain! We are 17" down from normal, yikes! I think there is a private message function. Write me!

 

well, look what I got started.

Ben's on the web these days blogging. When I get a chance, I'll post the site, because I forgot it.

He says he's going to publish.

THe paper that the MF'ers put out was called Black Mask.

Love all of you for letting it all hang out. You made the difference!

 

That's what it's all about Flower, making a place to open up communication.. Open It And They Will Come... some slower then others, but still they come to take a peek. Thank You!!

Bright Blessing
sh

 

Hey there Sister~ here's some history and stuff on Ben Morea

The following is an article on Ben written by Eve Hinderer. It is to be included in the forthcoming book on the Tompkins Square resistance movement edited by Clayton Patterson.

BEN MOREA, BLACK MASK AND MOTHERFUCKER:

A SAGA OF THE Ô60S LOWER EAST SIDE

By Eve Hinderer

The first time I saw Ben Morea was in the fall of 1967 while he and anarchist theoretician Murray Bookchin locked horns in a small room in a tenement on Avenue B, a building that no longer exists. Ben was speaking in favor of direct action, a strategy bypassing the establishment and many times involving street insurgency. Murray maintained that consciousness came first. Ô I Was [Ben] going to take a mallet and chisel and chip away at the buildings of Wall Street?Õ Bookchin asked, by way of a challenge. Later Ben and his affinity group, affectionately known as the ÔMotherfuckersÕ, captured the imagination of revolutionaries of the time, including the Weatherman faction of SDS, Students for a Democratic Society.

It was in signing off on a flyer, distributed at a local SDS meeting and a later Lincoln Center demonstration that Morea and others had first come up with UAW/MF, or ÔUp Against the Wall Motherfucker,Õ a line from a poem by Amiri Baraka. Close associates of the group were referred to as the familyÕ. A denizen of the Lower East Side myself at the time and an avowed anarchist, I took my place on the periphery of the group, being primarily involved in the beginnings of womenÔs liberation, in a group calling itself New York Radical Women.

Motherfucker had a Ôcross overÕ effect on other ideas and groupings of the time. The Yippies also espoused a prankish irreverence in their activities, but never approached the seriousness of UAW/MF. Likewise, although the SDS splinter Weatherman had been influenced by the insurgent activity of Motherfucker, it is doubtful they consciously thought of themselves as anarchists.

It was while still a teenager that Morea first came under the tutelage of Julian Beck and Judith Malina of the Living Theatre. Under their wing, Ben gave up the heroine-tinged culture of the jazz musician and turned instead to painting and politics. His first political formulation declared a connection between art and revolution and resulted in Black Mask, the broadside Morea and friends produced for 10 issues from November of 1966 to May of '68. Part of Black Mask theory was an opposition to European culture, saying instead that revolutionary art should be Ôan integral part of life, as in primitive society, and not an appendage to wealth.Õ

In the melting pot of the Ô60s, however, and against the backdrop of the militant opposition to the Vietnam War, Morea discontinued Black Mask, declaring that Motherfucker had transcended it, and that the real call was Ôinto the streetsÕ. While the group engaged in the serious business of fomenting revolution in theory and practice, their actions also included a playful, irreverent sabotage. Some of them were:

Distributed a flyer along the Bowery falsely advertising that a gallery opening on ManhattanÕs upscale East 57th Street would have free liquor and food. When the group arrived on the scene to see what had transpired, Ôthere were 1000 people there,Õ with the Tactical Police Force everywhere.

Closed off St. MarkÕs Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, which ultimately resulted in a riot. Ben said that when Abbie Hoffman emerged out of his apartment on the same block, he immediately joined in.

During NYC garbage strike in 1968, brought garbage up to Lincoln Center where it was dumped in the fountain. This event was filmed by the Newsreel collective, with the name Garbage.

Cut the cyclone fence at Woodstock in 1969, opening the door for the mass phenomenon that followed. That action has never been publicly acknowledged even by Wavy Gravy, a friend;

Did a mock shooting of poet Kenneth Koch during at reading at St. MarkÕs Church in the Bowery. An MFr pulled out a fake gun and shouted ÔKochÕ and shot a blank. The poet was so shocked that he fainted. Leaflets were then thrown from the balcony with photos of Leroi Jones and the slogan Ôpoetry is revolution.Õ

The group specialized in what Morea refers to as Ôbreakaways.Õ During the Pentagon demonstration in the fall of Ô68, for example, they actually forced an entry into the building.

Ben was always interested in the history of the anti-authoritarian, anti-Leninist left. He looked up old anarchists and went to see them. He was interested in Alexandra Kollantai, who was suppressed by Lenin. He went to see Raya Dunaskaya, TrotskyÕs secretary, in Detroit. Raya and Ben argued, and she threw him out.

The Becks assisted Ben and Motherfucker in taking over the Fillmore East, and pressured Bill Graham into letting Ôthe communityÕ have it free one night a week. BenÕs theory was that as in art and revolution, theatre and revolution also went together. After 3-4 weeks the cops forced Graham to renege on the deal or they would shut him down.

Many politicized people and groups passed through BenÕs East Broadway loft;

- A leader of the Japanese Zengaukoren, a group that frequently engaged in pitched battles with the police. This fellow later joined Che in Bolivia;

- King Mob, from the UK, who Ben has described as Ôa great guyÕ;

- The Situationists. Situationist Guy DeBord later concluded that Ben and Motherfucker were Ôtoo mystical.Õ

- Jean Jacques Lebel, a leader of the French uprising in Ô68;

- Valerie Solanas was a close friend. [She was the author of the SCUM Manifesto: the Society for Cutting Up Men. She later made an assassination attempt on Andy Warhol.] BenÕs character appears in the movie made of her life (I Shot Andy Warhol); and although the relationship was platonic, it was portrayed as being sexual: the only way Hollywood could really conceive of it. Ben remembers asking Valerie, ÔYouÕre about cutting up men, that means killing them, right? What about me?"Ô She said, ÔI promise you Ben, youÕll be the last man to go.Õ

As part of BenÕs involvement in art and painting, he met with Richard Huelsenbeck of the Berlin Dada movement and also visited Nicholas Calas, the critic who supported the surrealists. He was greatly influenced by Aldo Tambellini, early independent filmmaker and artist, who eventually became his mentor.

Morea coined the phrase Ôaffinity group.Õ Marcuse had just talked at SVA (School for Visual Arts) and after the talk, went down to Murray BookchinÕs apartment in lower Manhattan. At the ensuing meeting were Morea, Marcuse, Bookchin and Tom Neuman, MarcuseÕs stepson, who was part of MF. Ben heard the Spanish term aficionado, and substituted the word affinity to approximate the Spanish meaning. Neuman later gave the term, Ôaffinity groupÕ, itÕs definition: Ôa street gang with an analysis,Õ later used by King Mob. This term has gained widespread usage in the anarchist youth movement of today.

Ben and Motherfucker supported crash pads, and fed hundreds of people twice a week with mislabeled yogurt from Dannon and stews made with fish market surpluses. They hooked people up with doctors, worked with lawyers and ran a free store. They did this with grants from Judson Church, through ESSO: East Side Services Organization, the moniker they adopted in order to apply for money.

Ben was active in NYC between 1959 and 1969, encompassing the end of the Ô50s Beat scene and the beginnings of Õ60s ÔhipÕ counterculture. He was good friends with Alan Ginsberg and Leroi Jones (aka Amiri Baraka) among others, and continuously engaged the resistance movement of the Ô60s in its entirety: artistic and political

 

Thanks for some history,, love it!

 

Dick MF here.
I Love this thread. The beautiful mixing of truth and fiction and myth. Ben is blogging at e-blast. Truth is momentous and transitory. Reality is in the eye of the beholder. MF with Chuck MF with bad arm was not Dennis but "one arm Mike MF"
Please keep the 40 year old memories coming.

 

Hi Dick,
cant write ya a private email here,,, oh well. Thanks for fighten the good fight,,
hope this finds ya well and happy!

 

Luvione, thanks for the shout out!

Just happened on this thread yesterday. For some stupid reason I want to jump in because the myth and reality are conjoined twins. The myth always preceeds the reality.

I was there at most of the events mentioned and I was a part of the myth making that now has reached the level of true urban legend. CAN YOU DIG IT!!

First thanks to Succulent Flower for bringing it up, way back in 2004. I would add one thing to his first posting.

There are no living "used to be Motherfuckers." Just as there are no ex-wobblies, or ex-marines. As the pranksters noted, "you are either on the bus or you are off the bus."

Once I was a part of the philosophy, and embraced our form of struggle and had a personal understanding of my/our relation to the system of private property, and my responsiblity to serve/save OUR people I was changed internally and externally, irrevocably.

I was, I am and will forever be......Dick MF.

As to SF's second posting, Alan G. was never a Motherfucker. As to Ben "turning" us over to anyone, that would be impossible. We are anarchist. Ben was not our leader. We had no leader. Don't get me wrong, Ben was a/the most important part of MF, he worked the hardest, took some of the greatest risks, and contributed more or at least as much as anyone. He enjoyed great respect and of course gave and received much of the LOVE that was the binding glue of the first affinity group. (since the Spanish Civil War)

Alan and I were togather in many struggles, and I got a few great Ginsberg stories. but this is not the proper forum for those.
This is for Motherfucker stories.

I'll contribute some of them "as time goes by."

 

YES,, I'm back!! Nice to meet ya, so glad to greet ya. Yeah Dick, my sister left in 74 too, myself,I didnt start hanging till 76.She asked me to ask you if you drove from Tx, in a mini yellow type van/bus deal to Woodstock? Ya'll can check out my baby myspace, put a face to the voice.I havent done much with it, still a work in progress! Nice to be back,, Happy New Year!!! Yee Haw!

 

Hello, Had to keep this thread current, folks still filtering through. Much Love!

 

Yes, David Peel and the Lower East Side. Other greats by David Peel included one of my favorites, "I do my bawling in the bathroom." Off the album, "Have a Marijuana" (if memory serves me).

 

I remember them as a radical-politics rock band around 1969 in the Village..Sorry, no other details. But there was ANOTHER band (I'm sure they knew each other) called "Cat Mother and the All Night Workers"....anybody remember them?

 

Well just for a quick update, I asked Ben to come around this forum. Skip had asked if I could get an "old 60's activist" to come around and do a Q & A section. So no luck.

If you google Morea on the net, there's been some activity, some about Black Mask & an Interview with Ben.

He's a sweet guy, I used to drive him around the States selling beads ( he's getting up into his 70's and never learned to drive very well...) He's very active painting almost everyday.

We used to share alternative press mags. and art mags.

Joan runs a huge Jewelry company and has supported an immense family.

As for the comment of Max's Kansas City, I'm sorta miffed about the "plastic ppl" comments, my Father was one of the main bartenders and I knew Max too. He was always very nice to me.

 

It was Cat Mother and the All-Night Newsboys.

 

The only memory I have of that statement was by the motor city five from detroit when they used to hold concerts and project anti war statements and news by film on the wall behind the stage in the late 60s. The also played around ann arbor supporting john sinclair.And would also yell, Kick out the jams, Motherf-----s. Iv'e cleaned up my language some since then....lol

 

The Motherfuckers (up against.....) were an SDS affiliated anarchist group in NYC.
David Peel and the Lower East side....(up against...) is correct. On the album "Have a Marijuana"
Jefferson Airplane included the phrase in their album "Volunteers"
MC5 was the White Panthers' "house band"....their term was, "kick out the jams, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!"

Never heard any Cat Mother Motherfuckers but their song "Strike a Match" is a classic.

Zen

 

When your feet are in the saddle and your ass upon the ground...

 

Right on...Rob Tyner (MC5) used to yell that just before the band ripped our ears off - in a good way.
Grande Ballroom.

 

Yes, its David Peel. I just ordered the Up Aginst the Wall cd earlier today.

 

That about says it all. peel's bandmembers used to beat up hippies for having long hair before they realized they had a better chance of getting laid as long-haired rock "musicians". They sucked.

But it wasn't about the music anyway. The Motherfuckers was about politics and they were way ahead of the women's movement on women's issues. They originated the phrase "Up Against the Wall, Motherfucker" (actually as a quote from one of NY's Finest talking to a long-hair). Anyone remember their famous interiew with Bob Fass on WBAI?